We so often go through life not noticing anything. Busy, eyes focused ahead, always moving toward the next thing, or obsessing over the last thing. Never just existing in the particular moment we are in.

In early 2002 I was sitting on my patio, enjoying a very rare moment of doing nothing. The light was that soft, warm, afternoon light you get in the late winter... there was a slight breeze... and I noticed the shadows of a tree cast on the white stucco side of the ugly apartment building next door. I got my camera so I could film it.

I had no idea why I wanted to shoot the shadows, to capture them, it wasn't "useful" footage, it didn't seem to be anything that I could "do" something with. But I shot it anyway, because I had noticed how beautiful the shadows were, and that noticing made me happy.

Over the course of the following year, I shot more footage of things which I noticed around me. The more I shot, the more I noticed, so the more I shot. It was a wonderful cycle. Men digging ditches, birds sitting on telephone wires, people walking by outside on the sidewalk, a flag waving in a breeze - simple beautiful visions which I normally would not have noticed.

"Notice", is an interactive installation that combines playful audience-participation with video, user-submitted text (observations from their daily lives), and computer databases. It asks users not only to participate in the creation of the artwork itself, but also to interact more energetically with their own lives to be able to make the necessary observations to contribute.

"Notice" is a work that encourages people to be active participants in all that they do. By the simple act of being asked to share something they have noticed, people begin to notice more things. They become more tuned in to what is around them, perk up a bit, cast off the haze of modern life, and see the beautiful, frightening, profound things around us every single moment. The only way they can participate in "Notice" is to notice.

By noticing, we create a richer life. By noticing, we create a richer work of art.

Collaborators: Props to Charlene Mortale and David Mokskowitz, both of whom I consider collaborators on this project. Charlene Mortale collaborated on the installation design, as well as spent hours and hours working with me to actually BUILD the installation (women with circular saws, unite!) David Moskowitz provided essential database programming assistance, as well as many a laugh over IM.

Special Thanks: Many people helped to make this project come about. My heartfelt thanks to: Eve Luckring (projector loan), Marisol Medina and JJ Watson (truck and moving), David Eadington (build assistance), Larry Paxton (networking KING), James Meono & the DDNA Los Angeles office (backup projector), Pam Sung (for the 9 month company camera "loan", subverting a corporation's waste of resources in the support of the arts!). And finally, thanks to the many, many, people who have submitted things they've noticed to the project (full list coming soon).